Road Trips

BootBus is a Bug Killer

The BootBus is a Bug Killer. Chris and I went on a mini-roadtrip to Portland Monday and Tuesday of this week. When we arrived back at Boots HQ - we found many dead bugs on the front panel. Check out the makeshift graves for these 2 poor little buggers. ha, ha.

Going to California

Nick, Chris and I are going to CA in the BootBus today. The first road trip. Honk if you see us on I-5 going south over Mt. Shasta.

California, San Luis Opisbo

We made it all the way down here yesterday...the Oil light started flashing about 2 miles outside San Luis Opisbo (SLO) - we added some more oil and all seems to be good with the BootBus

The 1st night, we were treated to the Hospitality of Jen Leo and Susan Brady, both of TTales. I feel very lucky to have friends like them. We have had so many Boots Members stay with us, I forgot how fun it can be to be on the receiving end!

SLO has been fun, we are on our wat back tomorrow after camping again tonight. Pismo Beach Camp Grounds. It feels a bit weird to be travelling on business, and then camping with your buddies at night (But I do love it). But there is really no cheaper way, and there were no Boot members in SLO! Am off for beers and camping with Nick and Chris now.

I'm a Dumas!

It's been so long since I've been camping. Sean and I tried to remember the last time we'd used the tent and we couldn't. That is no excuse however for the stupidity I showed last night as we were setting up camp...

The sky was super clear and I could see tons of stars. Sean asked if we should put the fly on the tent and I said, "Nah, the sky's clear. It's not gonna rain,"

It was 'round about 4am when I woke up to Sean saying "It's raining outside,"

Bugger.

Feeling buzzed in the BootBus

We arrived back in Eugene around 4 p.m. yesterday. After, Chris, Nick and I unloaded the bus and started checking email, we all felt a bit strange. Our ears were ringing and we all felt a bit "buzzed". Chris and I learned a bit later that the muffler had fallen off the bus sometime in the last few hours of the trip - hence our ringing ears. We wonder if some carbon monoxide was slipping back into the bus, hence our buzz and Nick and I dozing off the last few hours of the trip. Tom the VW bus mechanic will check it out this week.

Road Trip

We're back in Eugene and getting our heads together after a great road trip down to San Luis Obispo on California's central coast. Eugene has a reputation for rainy weather and as we left on Monday mornig it sure felt cold. The weather in SLO was a breath of fresh air and hear are a few pics to give you an idea of what happened.

Here's the bus on the campus of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. We camped the night before and were drying our tents out on the bus.
Tents on the Bus

My view from the cooler position (sitting on the cooler behind the driver). Chris and Sean wrap up.
Chris and Sean

Sean at one of the many stops we made.
Sean

Nick bundled up in his Bhutan jacket.
Nick

The Siskiyou's (Oregon California border).
The Siskiyou's

Our bud, Jen Leo in the bus outside Susan's place.
Jen Leo

Here's the mechanical wonder that got us over the mountains and back again.
BootBus engine

Heading for San Francisco

This Monday, June 11th @ 4:00p.m. - I am gonna be taking the BootBus down to SF for a week. Die hard Boots member, Jen Leo will be joining for the road trip both ways. I would love to meet up with some other Boots members in SF on Friday June 15th - so let me know if you wanna meet up for beers.

Camping in Yreka off I-5

Jen and I camped in "Waiika Travel Haven". Miller Lite in cans was on tap before sleeping in a tent about 10 feet from a glowing phone booth.

Jen - Miller Lite

Sean with Miller Lite in BootBus

Camping and driving was so fun, that we briefly considered just taking off for a road trip (forget SF). Good thing we didn't with the clutch going wacky

Hot Writing Women, I mean

The Wild Writing Women. These women are hot and wild. (See pic below - they laugh, travel, and drink like female pirates) So we got into town, just in time for Jen to participate in her writer's group book reading at Get Lost book store.

The reading was funny. I laughed a few times, pretty hard in fact. There stories all were about travel and had elements of coagulated escargot, taking a lash while rock climbing, and getting "hit on" during her honeymoon. It all made for interesting stuff. But not nearly as interesting as drinks after....

WWW women - ready to rage (this is only 1/2 of them)

Oh yeah, shortly after arriving, Boots member and future RTW traveler Amy Scott introduced herself to me. We jabbered away before the WWW book reading started and she also came out for drinks and chatting. Amy got me all juiced up about here RTW trip that she is planning with boyfriend Juan. She also committed to sending in some travel pieces on SF. (Hint, hint)

Nothing like hangin out with a bunch of travel motivated folks. Little did I know that the next day, Bootbus troubles would limit the number of other BootsnAll member meet-ups. Damn.

Our First Breakdown

I suppose we were kinding of expecting it, but we never knew when it might strike. Now we know. A day after Sean had completed the drive from Eugene to San Francisco, the BootBus has a problem.

Sean's currently stuck in Corte Madera. He heard a pop when he was engaging the clutch and now he can't change gears. Sean actually pushed the bus to get to his appointment.

Figuring that it's probably the clutch cable that needs replacing, Sean is going to have a crack at it himself. We've got the Idiot's guide by John Muir and I'll try and talk him through it over the phone. If that fails, we've got Tom the VW Guy on standby to guide us.

Wish us luck.

BootBus in the Book Passage parking lot — not preserved

So I decided to hitch back

It was 5:15 p.m. and the bus was not going to be fixed today, so I took matters into my own hands, and thought about what the travel god (Nick O'Neill aka Travelnutter) would do. He would hitch.

So I walked over to the on ramp near 101 and saw thousands of cars going towards SF. At least one would take me, right? I remembered what Nick said about hitching "Smile and look straight into the oncoming drivers eye. I figured, I looked fairly nice, or at least I was not wearing Ant's black trench coat. So 3 hitchhikes and a bus ride later, I made it to the party in the city....check these hip pants — not preserved from the party. People in San Francisco are so much more cool than folks from Eugene like me.

Trying to get the bus "fixed"

The next morning, JenLeo came back out with me in an attempt to get the bus fixed. After some Corte Madera cop, helped me push the bus to the local Chevron, the gas station dudes had a look at it. — not preserved Well, whatever they did, really did not help and Jen and I got the BootBus towed — not preserved thanks to her Verizon Wireless free towing service.

Coby, from Valley Wagon Works (yeah no website, we are working with Coby to try and get him a functional website) was the man to work on it. This guy has about 25 VW buses in his parking lot, so he seemed to be da man for this situation.

Pick-up for the van, is friday - so Jen and I still had a chance to meet up for some beers at Jupiter in Berkeley with Jennifer and Bob Colvin — not preserved (see travelogue here) in Oakland.

Picking it up and related stuff

I picked up the BootBus on Friday night and as I pulled out of Coby's driveway, everything seemed to be A OK. But, about a mile down the road, all the gears started grinding again. Ugh. Somehow I made it all the way back to SF and parked.

Email correspondence with Coby (thanks Coby!) suggests that it might be something different, but, I did drive all the way back without a clutch, and Coby says "You can drive to Nova Scotia if you want" with out a clutch. So I am thinking that I will just "go for it" on Monday when we leave and have VW Eugene man Tom deal with it on my return.

Cooler Packed, Oil topped

(Will the BootBus make it back? Vote here. added at 6:42 p.m.)

off. JenLeo and I are attempting to drive back from San Francisco, CA to Eugene, OR without the use of a clutch, starting 5:30 a.m. Monday morning. (June 17th) Coby says that it is not a worry to make the trip. So we are going for it. Please pray for us. Just kidding, it really should be all good since 98% of the trip is Highway driving. The Bootbus is perfectly capable of city driving, I just have to turn it off and restart it to actually get it into1st gear. A pain it is.

Which brings me to my next question. Is all this worth it? Should I buck up and get a "more reliable" vehicle? What are the pros and cons?

For now, I want to keep it. I mean, 6 months and only 1 breakdown. It could be worse. But, if this becomes a habit...should we stick with it? Or when just wait (2005+) for a maybe (VW microbus) (200K download)

I am sitting here drinking

some Sierra Nevada Summerfest brew, and I must admit, I am a bit scared. I know we can make it, but I really can't wait to go and "get it on" with the road and the bus. As the beer enters my bloodstream, a calm enters my mind. I feel that a Michael Jordan like zone will come my way soon and I will elevate my game/driving abilities.

So far, so good

Currently, I am at the shop getting BootBus logos and stuff installed on the Bootbus (see pop-up pic — not preserved). The drive out to Pleasanton was not a problem. Now that I know the clutch is useless, the bus is running like a dream. Hoping this continues... Peace.

Made it home

Jen and I made it back to Eugene around Midnight Monday. The Bootbus preformed admirably and I am thankful to be back.

Tom (the VW guy) fixed our clutch for $55. The clutch cable had broken, so he replaced it and we are good to go. Chris and I drove the bus to do our laundry this morning and all appears to be good with our new clutch cable.

VW Buses on the East Coast

After being on Central PA for 1 week - I saw my first VW (pre- 1971) bus. Of course a big Dead Head sticker was in the side window. They are just not nearly as common out here. Every other vehicle in Eugene is a VW bus, out here, it's the exact opposite. I guess I should expect that though, no?

Eugene - Portland

Chris and I went up to Portland this weekend in the BootBus - which is not that unusual. But when we arrived, the Bus leaked oil. Yes - it normally leaks, but this was like Kuwait during Desert Storm. So we filled it back up for th trip back down and once we stopped in Eugene, it leaked even more profusely...in fact when I went to start it a few hours later - nothing happened.

We were scared...maybe the engine seized up? Anyway, it started back up this morning and Tom (our VW guy) is gonna replace some gasket thing so this huge leak subsides.

Campus Crawl - Tentative Schedule

Campus Crawl Schedule

Campus Crawl

Here is the schedule for our Campus Crawl. Nick and Sean will be hitting universities in Oregon and California and giving away a RTW ticket. If you're going to be in the area for one of these dates, send us an email: [email protected].

This is a work in progress so check back for changes:

The VW Van wave

At 6:37 a.m. this morning, I was turning right onto the Delta Highway exit off of Beltline Highway on my way into the office. Just as I started the slight veer to the right, a VW Vanagon passed me in the left lane, the driver looked over and waved. This was early in the morning. The sun was barely up. It was pretty damn nice and friendly gesture.

I have noticed that when I am driving the BootBus, that other folks in VW buses wave for no apparent reason, other than, I too am in a VW van. I actually like it..but is this some unspoken rule or something?

Fall Creek Campground

Jen Leo has been bugging us to go camping for awhile now. So tonight, Ant, Jen, Nick and I are going in the BootBus to Fall Creek Campground to barbeque, make a fire according to the way, and drink a few beers. This may be the last time to enjoy summer camping.

Lazy Leo - Camping pic

Nick, Chris and I are sitting here @ the office - it's like 10:15 p.m. and we are currently listening to U2 - Zooropa after watching the Yankees get beat by the Angels in games 2 of the division series. It's always great to see the Yankees lose.

WE are all just surfing and doing a little bit of nothing/something. I started looking at pictures from our BootBus roadtrip to Fall Creek this past weekend. Here is a great one of Jen Leo helping us set-up camp.

Lazy Leo — not preserved

It was a great time actually and the new BootBus stereo provided great background music as we drank Miller Lite and talked about Travel, Technology, Blogging, and a whole range of stuff around the fire.

U of O Street Faire

Today is the 2nd of 3 days at the U of O Street Faire. Yesterday was very fun. We met a lot of students and folks are definately interested in travelling.

The BootBus is the centerpiece of our booth and looks very good. This extra battery we installed a few weeks ago is coming in handy, big time.

Check out some photos of the booth

Ramping Up - Bigtime

We are just less than 72 hours from leaving on the Campus Crawl. Old BootsnAll members are in touch with us and ready to meet up. I am freakin' jacked up to meet them as well.

Food - Nick and I are packing a cooler so to sustain ourselves and save cash. Remember the 3 biggest expenses to traveling:

1 - Transport
2 - Food
3 - Accomodation

The cooler will help control costs on food. The Bootbus, well let's hope it takes care of the transport part, and accomodation, BootsnAll members are helping us out here. So I reckon we are pretty close to being ready. Now...on to the 200 emails in me inbox!

Offer from Fresno

This was a comment from the Campus Crawl Schedule Entry by John - I like it and thank you! I think Nickers and I will have to make a stop in Fresno.

(Entry by John)
Fresno State (= CSU, Fresno) and Fresno City College would W*E*L*C*O*M*E a visit from the famous (infamous?) visitors from the Land of Rust!
ANY chance/possibility?

Eugene & Fresno have more in common than some of the "other" Major cities you've already planned to visit! Check out our Tower District, for example... and dinner is "on me" @ M*I*N*G*S Restaurant (Chinese)! I don't "see" L.A. or S.D. making such offers :-)

Let's Hope this doesn't happen to us

(submitted by joe e, thx!)

the BootBus? — not preserved

Pre Campus Crawl Kickoff

All the shopping is done, just about all our gear is packed, the bus is washed up and cleaned out. I feel about as ready to go as possible.

A few folks should be swinging by in the next half hour or so for the kick-off happy hour. Pics and commentary to follow.

The long and winding road

Nick and Sean left this morning just before midday. All the gear in the bus packed up surprisingly well. I think we were all amazed at how much room was left over. The challenge will be to keep everything in its place (we want photos every day, fellas).

There was the usual last minute running around, making sure all the stuff was packed. However, there was none of the panic and chaos that sometimes ensues before leaving for a road trip. Thanks to the efforts of Sean and Jen Leo in compiling exhaustive lists it was simply a matter of checking everything off.

A fully packed bus — not preserved

In a typical BootBus moment, just as the lads were about to pull away (in a choking cloud of oil smoke, BTW), I spotted a pair of calipers stuck the underside of the bus. Tom, the VW guy, must have left them there by accident.

It was kinda sad to see the boyz drive off. It'll be almost a month before we see them again. But it's very cool too. We've wanted to do something like this for a few years and now it's actually a reality.

Sean and Nick — not preserved

Sean, Nick and their trusty steed — not preserved

The boys will reach Chico tonight and set up shop at Cal State Chico on Monday morning. They'll be there all day so if you're in Chico, drop by the BMU on campus and say g'day.

Mini Roadtrip

Ant, Chris, Nick and I will be taking the BootBus to Nick's Going Away Party tonight.

Stephen King's Christine?

On Monday I drove up to Seattle to attend Rolf Potts' first book event. It's slow going cruising up I-5 and the weather was rather inclement.

When stopped for gas in Albany, OR, the bus would stall every time I took the foot off the accelerator. It would start up again fine, but when I braked before pulling out the gas station, it stalled.

Later on, in Washington, I was thinking about this and remembered the first time Sean and I drove the BootBus down from Portland to Eugene and the bus would not start again after we stopped for gas.

I voiced concern about this happening again to Jen Leo who was travelling with me. The very second I said it, the speedometer quit working. So did the odometer. The speedo sat on zero mph and the odometer froze. Weird. Perhaps the BootBus was listening to me doubting its ability to perform and decided to teach me a lesson.

At the next gas stop, I pulled out the idiot's guide to see if I could fix it. I needed to remove the hub cap from the left front wheel but I didn't have a flat head screwdriver (my Leatherman could not get enough leverage).

So I went all the way to Seattle and back not knowing exactly how fast I was going. No big deal from a speeding perspective as there was no way I could go faster than the posted speed limit on the highway.

I'll attempt to fix the problem this weekend now that I've borrowed a screwdriver.